"The non-fiction of J. G. Ballard: statements, essays, articles, commentaries, lists, reviews, tributes, and more"--
J. G. Ballard’s collected nonfiction from 1962 to 2007, mapping the cultural obsessions, experiences, and insights of one of the most original minds of his generation.
J. G. Ballard was a colossal figure in English literature and an imaginative force of the twentieth century. Alongside seminal novels—from the notorious Crash (1973) to the semi-autobiographical Empire of the Sun (1984)—Ballard was a sought-after reviewer and commentator, publishing journalism, memoir, and cultural criticism in a variety of forms. The Selected Nonfiction of J. G. Ballard collects the most significant short nonfiction of Ballard’s fifty-year career, extending the range of the only previous collection of his nonfiction, A User’s Guide to the Millennium (1996), which selected essays and reviews published between 1962 and 1995.
A decade on from Ballard’s death in 2009, a new generation of readers needs a new collection. In the period following A User’s Guide, Ballard’s writing addressed 9/11, British politics from New Labour onward, and what he termed “the rise of soft fascism”—a diagnosis that maintains its relevance amid a shift toward right populism in European and US politics. Beautifully edited by Ballard scholar and novelist Mark Blacklock, this volume includes Ballard’s editorials and manifestos; commentaries on his own work; commentaries on the work of others; reviews; and more. Above all, it makes the case for the currency of Ballard’s work at a contemporary juncture at which so many of his diagnoses concerning the media and politics have become apparent.
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"China-born English writer Ballard (Empire of the Sun; Crash) wrote nonfiction in addition to his novels and short stories...This volume of nonfiction, edited by literary scholar and novelist Blacklock (The Emergence of the Fourth Dimension), spans decades and covers topics like consumerism, Salvador Dali, science fiction, future technology, civilization, and everyday ironies. The book is arranged by type of document (essays, reviews, commentaries), and the materials in each chapter are thus arranged chronologically. Ballard provides fascinating cultural criticism; he notes in 1962 that the U.S. population will likely be bored by space exploration, as real-life astronauts are not fitted with the robots and machines customary in a Buck Rogers adventure. Ballard excels at intriguing juxtapositions of items and ideas, a surrealism in prose form. A general introduction brings biographical context to Ballards life and work, and each chapter provides a contextual framework for the pieces within...An eclectic collection of essays for scholars of 20th-century literature." Library Journal
If everything for Ballard is fiction, what makes for inclusion in a selection of his nonfiction? Aware of his challenge, Blacklock hopes to illuminate the full range of Ballards activities as a reviewer, essayist, journalist, commentator, memoirist, provocateur, compiler of lists, and talking head. He achieves this handsomely. The Times Literary Supplement Ballard is exceptionally prescient, capturing a world that didnt yet fully exist or wasnt visible to most. ArtReview As George Orwell died in January 1950 and J. G. Ballard began to publish professionally in 1956 we can describe the first as the greatest author of the twentieth century, and Ballard as the greatest author of the second part of the twentieth. The Orwell Society
FOREWORD BY TOM MCCARTHY xi
INTRODUCTION xv
NOTES ON THE EDITION xxxi
1 STATEMENTS 1
Which Way to Inner Space? (1962) 3
Notes from Nowhere (1966) 7
Introduction to the French Edition of Crash! (1974/1975) 10
What I Believe (1984) 15
2 NEW WORLDS 19
Myth Maker of the 20th Century (1964) 23
La Jetée, Academy One (1966) 28
The Coming of the Unconscious (1966) 30
The Thousand Wounds and Flowers (1969) 35
Salvador Dali: The Innocent as Paranoid (1969) 38
Use Your Vagina (1969) 46
Alphabets of Unreason (1969) 50
3 COMMENTARIES 55
On Own Work: Novels 56
The Drowned World (1963) 57
The Atrocity Exhibition (1969) 59
Concrete Island (1994) 60
Hello America (1994) 62
On Own Work: Stories and Collections 64
Storm- Wind (1961) 65
You and Me and the Continuum (1966) 65
End- Game (1968) 66
Vermilion Sands (1973/1992) 68
The Best Science Fiction of J. G. Ballard (1977) 70
Le livre dor de la science- fiction: J. G. Ballard (1980) 76
Myths of the Near Future (1982) 78
Report on an Unidentified Space Station (1985) 80
J. G. Ballard: The Complete Short Stories (2001) 80
On Work of Others: Literature 82
Cataclysms and Dooms in The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1977)
83
Graham Greene (1978) 84
James Joyce (1990) 86
Nathanael West (1993) 87
Aldous Huxley (1994) 89
On Work of Others: Art 91
Eduardo Paolozzi (1970) 94
Ikko Narahara (1980) 94
Brigid Marlin (1990) 96
Paul Delvaux (1996) 97
Robert Smithson (1997) 99
Tacita Dean (2001) 100
Ed Ruscha (2001) 102
Francis Bacon (2004) 103
4 FEATURES AND ESSAYS 105
Fictions of Every Kind (1971) 108
The Consumer Consumed (1971) 111
The Car, the Future (1971) 113
The Future of the Future (1977) 119
The Diary of a Mad Space Wife (1979) 123
In the Voyeurs Gaze (1989) 127
The French Riviera Spoiled? Only by Fear and Snobbery (1995) 132
Airports: The Cities of the Future (1997) 136
Welcome to the Virtual City (2001) 139
The Prophet (2005) 141
A Handful of Dust (2006) 145
Shock and Gore (2007) 149
The Larval Stage of a New Kind of Architecture (2007) 152
5 LISTS, CAPTIONS, AND GLOSSARIES 157
Collectors Choice: Outer Limits (1987) 159
Project for a Glossary of the Twentieth Century (1992) 164
Impressions of Speed (1998) 170
What Makes a Classic? (1999) 174
6 REVIEWS 177
Books 177
The Science of Dreams by Edwin Diamond (1963) 179
Down to Earth: Spectrum IV, edited by Kingsley Amis and Robert Conquest;
Telepathist by John Brunner; I Love Galesburg in the Springtime by Jack
Finney; An Arthur C. Clarke Omnibus (1965) 180
Into the Drop Zone: Beyond Time by Michel Siffre (1965) 182
The See- Through Brain: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (1970) 183
A Personal View: Billion Year Spree by Brian Aldiss (1974) 185
Zap Code: Approaching Oblivion by Harlan Ellison; Shadrach in the Furnace by
Robert Silverberg; Medusas Children by Bob Shaw (1977) 191
Killing Time: The Executioners Song by Norman Mailer (1979) 193
New Means Worse: The Golden Age of Science Fiction, edited by Kingsley Amis
(1981) 195
Fallen Idol: Elvis by Albert Goldman (1981) 197
Legend of Regret: Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F. Scott
Fitzgerald by Matthew J. Bruccoli (1982) 199
Autopia or Autogeddon: Automania by Julian Pettifer and Nigel Turner; The
Centenary of the Car, 1885 1985 by Andrew Whyte; Rolls- Royce: The Complete
Works by Mike Fox and Steve Smith (1984) 201
Escape into the Seraglio: Hockney on Photography: Conversations by Paul
Joyce (1988) 203
Days Strung on a Syringe with a Thread of Blood: Literary Outlaw: The Life
and Times of William S. Burroughs by Ted Morgan (1991) 206
Chainsaw Biomassacre in Glorious Horoscope: Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized
Biography by Kitty Kelley (1991) 208
Sermons from the Mount: Fates Worse Than Death by Kurt Vonnegut (1991) 211
Rituals of a Skinny Dipper: Haunts of the Black Masseur: The Swimmer as Hero
by Charles Sprawson (1992) 214
Was the Holocaust Scripted by This Man? Marquis de Sade: A Biography by
Maurice Lever (1993) 215
Let the Women Have Lipstick and High Heels: Deng Xiaoping and the Making of
Modern China by Richard Evans (1993) 217
Mouse That Bores: Walt Disney: Hollywoods Dark Prince by Marc Eliot (1994)
219
The Puccini of Cinema Grows Up: Steven Spielberg: The Unauthorised Biography
by John Baxter (1996) 221
Weirdly Wise: Lynch on Lynch, edited by Chris Rodley (1997) 224
Return of the Future: The First Dozen Titles in the Predictions Series
Published by Phoenix House, London (1997) 227
Sands of Time: The Beach: The History of Paradise on Earth by Lena Lincek
and Gideon Bosker (1998) 230
Theyre Falling Out of the Sky: The Black Box: Cockpit Voice Recorder
Accounts of In- Flight Accidents, edited by Malcolm MacPherson (1998) 233
Reach for the Sky: Lindbergh by A. Scott Berg (1998) 235
Analysts Couch Potato: Woody Allen: A Biography by John Baxter (1998) 238
License to Kill: The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang (1999) 240
Fashion Victim: Pages from the Glossies: Facsimiles 1956 1998 by Helmut
Newton (1999) 244
The Maestro Who Campaigned Against His Greatest Work: The Enigma of
Giorgio de Chirico by Margaret Crosland (1999) 246
A Staircase of Corpses: Build My Gallows High by Geoffrey Homes (2001) 248
Prophet of Our Present: Aldous Huxley: An English Intellectual by Nicholas
Murray (2002) 250
This Boy Does Talk. Who Is He? King of Cannes by Stephen Walker (2002) 253
The Unlimited Dream Company: The Bad and the Beautiful: A Chronicle of
Hollywood in the Fifties by Sam Kashner and Jennifer MacNair (2002) 256
The Ultimate Sacrifice: Kamikaze: Japans Suicide Gods by Albert Axell and
Hideaki Kase (2002) 259
A World of Endless Summer: High Tide: News from a Warming World by Mark
Lynas (2004) 261
Flush with Talent: Shepperton Babylon: The Lost Worlds of British Cinema by
Matthew Sweet (2005) 263
The Day of Reckoning: A Woman in Berlin by Anonymous, and Germany: Jekyll
and Hyde by Sebastian Haffner (2005) 265
Films 269
Hobbits in Space: Star Wars (1977) 270
Blue Velvet (1993) 273
The Third Man (2002) 274
In Modern America, No Nightmare Is Forbidden: The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
275
The Killer Inside: A History of Violence (2005) 276
Television 281
In Cold Blood: C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation (2005) 282
7 NEW STATESMAN 287
Diary (1999) 289
Diary (2001) 291
Now Parliament Is Just Another Hypermarket (2005) 294
Diary: A Fascists Guide to the Premiership (2006) 297
8 FORUM DISCUSSIONS 301
The State of Fiction: A Symposium (1978) 303
Cyberpunk Forum (1988) 304
A Response to the Invitation to Respond (1991) 304
Nurse, the Screens (1998) 305
9 CAPSULE COMMENTARIES 309
The Magnificent Seven (1994) 310
Apocalypse How? (1995) 310
The Westway (2001) 310
My Perfect Beach (2002) 311
Writers Rooms (2007) 312
10 MEMOIR AND TRIBUTES 315
Remembering Crash (1990) 317
Unlocking the Past (1991) 318
My Favourite Books (1992) 323
Look Back at Empire (2006) 328
Eduardo Paolozzi (1987) 332
Brian Aldiss (1990) 333
Judith Merril (1992) 334
William S. Burroughs (1997) 337
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 339
BIBLIOGRAPHY 341
Primary Sources 341
Suggested Further Reading 353
INDEX 357
James Graham J.G. Ballard (1930-2009) was a British author and journalist. Best known for his dystopic works of science fiction, his novels include Crash (1973) and High-Rise (1975). His semi-autobiographicalnovel Empire of the Sun (1984) was adapted by Stephen Spielberg in the 1987 film of the same name. Luminous, wry, and arresting, Ballards writing endures as a touchstone for popular conceptions of post-apocalyptic landscapes, mass media, and emergent technologies.
Mark Blacklock is Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of the cultural history The Emergence of the Fourth Dimension, and his most recent novel Hinton was longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction in 2021.
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